Reincarnation (Перевтілення)
- 1.Flames (Язики полум'я)05:42
- 2.In the Cold Eyes (В холодних очах)04:50
- 3.In the Gray Field of Hope (В сивім полі сподівань)03:53
- 4.Thousands Shimmering Souls (1000 мерехтливих крил)08:12
- 5.By the Dark Lake (Біля темного озера)04:32
- 6.Night Dance (Нічний танець)05:49
- 7.Their Wings Are Gray Like Spirits (Їхні крила сірі, немов духи)07:55
- 8.The Shadows Path (Шлях тіней)05:50
The Review
Setoml is a new band from Ukraine which was formed in 2018 and it consists of two members, one responsible for all lyrics and vocals (Krivoviaz Serge) while the other one is responsible for everything else (Semenenko Anton). I have been listening to their first effort so far, called Reincarnation, which was co-released by Satanath Records and Kryrart Records in CD version limited in 500 copies for each label (1000 in total), in 24th of April 2020. The album consists of eight tracks with overall duration of about forty-seven minutes. The very nice cover does not give me any hint the music that I am going to listen by Setoml, but I can understand that they have some kind of connection with nature, their music will be dark and by the moths of the cover I feel that they want to express that they are in a state of evolution.
The music that you will find in Reincarnation, is of course dark, sometimes violent, sometimes melancholic, other times melodic or brutal but generally very intense. You can categorize them into Black Metal but for sure there are a lot of Death Metal elements and their riffs combine various styles such as violent, fast and hateful or melodic, melancholic – depressive or brutal, heavy and slow. The band has a unique ability to create a heavy, dark and foggy atmosphere, you feel like you are trapped in quicksand, other times you fight hard and violently, other times you despair and other times you accept your fate. The tracks last from four to nine minutes and I think that some of them last longer than they should. However, each track is structured carefully, having very interesting changes, most of the times. This ugly and intense feeling that the compositions offer is augmented by the lyrics which are written entirely in Ukrainian and for some strange reason they make those feelings even uglier and more intense. I don’t understand them but by the titles I get a hint of melancholy, even despair.
Obviously, here we deal with another talented musician. He is responsible for every instrument, production and mixture and everything are almost perfect. The guitars which have a lot of different styles to execute, are very accurate and passionate, delivering the images and the feelings flawlessly. The bass is supporting the compositions giving them the depth and the bass sound that they need, while there are times when it gets in the foreground along with high pitched guitars and create an interesting duo. The drums are executed perfectly. Their lines are very interesting with a lot of changes both regarding the tempo and the style, and their performance is stable but at the same time full of energy, they add violence and hatred to the compositions. There are also some keyboards here and there, so discreet that in some tracks you have to be really focused in order to listen to them, but they add an atmospheric touch to the tracks. The vocals are heavy, brutal, reminding more of Death Metal than Black vocals, executed with expressiveness they match the level of the rest of the album. The production is warm, bassy and a little fuzzy while the mixture is balanced with the only instrument that could have been highlighted in a better way, is the keyboard.
Reincarnation is a very good effort, if we consider that it’s the first release of a new band. The listener will come across a well-played Black/Death album with a lot of elements borrowed by other styles of Metal, making the result interesting, despite its small flaws. The tracks that I distinguished are Flames (Язики полум’я), Thousands Shimmering Souls (1000 мерехтливих крил), By the Dark Lake (Біля темного озера) and Their Wings Are Gray Like Spirits (Їхні крила сірі, немов духи). If you like hateful, dark Black Metal with heavy Death elements and various other touches, you will appreciate this one. Give them a chance and listen to this album, you might be surprised.